Drug rehab centre inmates claim torture at facility

Inmates at a Vietnamese Drug Rehabilitation Centre said they staged a mass escape because they were tortured at the facility, State media reported on Monday.

About 224 inmates at the centre in Tien Giang Province’s Chau Thanh District broke free early on Saturday.

They told authorities that guards would regularly beat inmates for minor infractions, the Vnexpress news site reported.

“We had to work eight hours a day, which is itself tiring.

“But if we made the smallest mistake, like not folding our blankets as neatly as they required, we would be beaten and made to kneel for three hours,’’ an unnamed inmate told Police, according to Vnexpress.

“And if we could not keep our backs straight when kneeling, there would be more thrashing.’’

Nguyen Xuan Lap, Head of Vice Prevention at the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the complaints would be investigated.

Most of the inmates have been returned to the centre, although 18 remained at large.

Vietnam has a practice of sending drug addicts to detention centres for “labour therapy,’’ although critics say the programmes amount to forced labour.

Some former Niger Delta militants have stormed the main entrance of the National Assembly to demand payment of their allowances and the sacking of the Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd).

Governors are to meet President Muhammadu Buhari again to find a way out of the controversy surrounding a new minimum wage, just as Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) calls for the implementation in January.